Nashville songwriter meets with Congressional leaders on music licensing

Nashville songwriter Josh Kear appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday as part of an ASCAP sponsored event designed to shed light on issues facing the songwriting community.

The event comes as Congress considers music licensing reform. The digital music world, which includes streaming services like Pandora, undervalues songwriters and composers, who earn 12 times less than record labels and artists for performances, according to ASCAP.

“The result is that songwriters are being treated unfairly and paid far too little when their music is streamed on services such as Pandora, which is seeking to even further lower the royalties they pay to songwriters and composers,” ASCAP said in a statement.

Added Kear: As songwriters, we need to ensure that Congress hears our side of the story as they review how digital music royalties are paid. …We’d love to see streaming services truly succeed in a way that is designed to fairly compensate music creators.”

Kear performed Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” and Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” two songs he wrote, at the event.